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Lake District Holocaust Project to share its story with Downing Street

A PERMANENT Winder-mere exhibition is set to shape how the nation will commemorate one of the world’s worst atrocities in the future.

The Lake District Holocaust Project has been invited to share its story as part of a project led by Downing Street.

Based at Windermere Library, the projects pulls together years of research, oral history interviews and records from visits to Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Holland, France and throughout the UK.

‘From Auschwitz to Ambleside’ tells the story of 300 child Holocaust survivors who sought refuge in the Lake District in 1945 to begin their recovery from years of unimaginable suffering.

And now it has been revealed the project has been asked to work with the Government as it considers the future of Holocaust education and commemo-ration in Britain.

Trevor Avery, director of Another Space, the charity that produces the Lake District Holocaust Project, said: “It is a credit to all those who have worked with us over the years, and especially the survivors who have given us so much time and attention in the area, to be asked so directly by No 10 to become so closely involved in the work of the commission.”

Mr Avery added: “This is a hugely important moment for the country and is a review into how we as a nation will commemorate the Holocaust in the future and how we will educate our children to equip themselves to protect us all from the evils of hatred, intolerance and racism, issues that can inevitably lead to genocide.

“For Windermere and the Lake District to be at the heart of this debate is truly amazing but also humbling.”

The commission will report its findings to the Prime Minister by the end of 2014.

Launching the Holocaust Commission earlier this year, David Cameron said: “Survivors have played a vital role in keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive, but we will not always have these remarkable individuals with us.

“We face a real danger that, as the events of the Holocaust become ever more distant, they feel increasingly remote to current and future generations.”

More at https://engage.number10.gov.uk/contact-the-holocaust-commission and www.ldhp.org.uk.